In 2025, fire departments serving Palmer responded to 325 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $427K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,439 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $7.3M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 258 | — | |
| 2022 | 366 | +41.9% | |
| 2023 | 274 | -25.1% | |
| 2024 | 216 | -21.2% | |
| 2025 | 325 | +50.5% |
For the 35 building fires Palmer departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 517 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 91 | 17.6% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 88 | 17.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 47 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 46 | 8.9% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 27 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 22 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 20 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 20 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Other | 14 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 12 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 130 | 25.1% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Palmer mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 239 | 46.2% | |
| 2 | Cigarette lighter | 44 | 8.5% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 35 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 26 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 22 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Radiated heat from another fire | 18 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 15 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 14 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 14 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 77 | 14.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Palmer departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 76% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $427,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $35,800 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Palmer sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
19 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 3 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 6 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 49,924 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Fireworks | 37,336 | 24.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 3,496 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3,288 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,692 | 21.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 777 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 461 | 15.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 383 | 11.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 367 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 303 | 6.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Recreation and ceremony | 240 | 10.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 227 | 5.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 206 | 13.7 mi |
Top 4 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Alaska cities with population within ±25% of Palmer. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Palmer.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.